How things can change
by Leonew
Summary: Jyona has been a barkeeper who lives in the north of Hillsbrad ever since her husband died. When two rather strange visitors come in, her life gets more interesting than she ever wanted it to be. Rating for violence. Ch.2 up: Jyona finds a strange amulet.
1. Prologue: Meetings

Disclaimer: I do not own Blizzard's Warcraft or any of the races, objects, places etc. that come with it. I am making no money from this story and the only profit I gain from this is the fun of writing it.

With a loud thud the old man put his mug back on the bar. Jyona turned around and caught his meaningful glance. With a polite smile she refilled the mug with beer and returned it to the man. Without as much as a thanks the man turned back to his friend and resumed his one-sided conversation.

Jyona sighed; the customers seemed to be getting less polite by the day. She started to wish she had never taken it upon her to take over her husbands bar after he died. But she had felt responsible for the 'Last Mile', which had been in her husbands' family for centuries.

Obviously though, the pub had become less popular in the last few decades. This far to the north villages had grown smaller and smaller until only the most courageous were willing to live there. With the wilderness of Alterac so close, beasts and other creatures where commonly known to raid the fields and even come into the villages and trash around. The villagers where trying to defend themselves but lately this had come down more to hiding in their houses than trying to fight the numerous masses.

Jyona decided to go round the tables to see if the customers needed more to drink or eat. Just as she returned to the bar with the diverse orders, the door of the pub slammed open, making several customers flinch. Jyona spun around quickly, only to find that two dwarves, one male and one female, entered the bar. Confidently, the two strode to the back wall and sat down. The female dwarf placed a weighty looking gun against the closest wall as the other did the same with a huge axe and a fine-looking shield. Jyona gaped a few seconds at the new guests; she never had seen such heavily armed warriors in her small pub. Most people in town had a club or small axe to defend themselves but that was about it. The male looked most spectacular; he was wearing heavy armour all over his body. It was well kept and polished, so that it reflected the dim light in the bar. The dwarf with the gun seemed less armoured, but also looked as if she could stand her ground firmly. Jyona realised she wasn't the only one in the bar who was staring. Several people had turned their heads towards the table in the back until the male dwarf started to throw back threatening glances. As he caught her eye, Jyona remembered her duty and walked over to the table to ask if the two customers wished for anything. The female dwarf obviously had missed out on all the staring and was talking animatedly to her companion. As she approached the table, Jyona caught a few words.

'…and then they just threw me in the water! I mean, normally those Booty Bay Bruisers keep the order in town but now they just stood there and watched as those filthy Horde grabbed me and threw me of the pier! I was lucky to get back on shore at all!'

'Ye pro'lly deserved it.' the other dwarf said absentmindedly.

The female seemed to fill with indignation and started to sputter. Then she noticed Jyona standing nearby and seemed to force a grimace on her face.

'Two beers, if you would be so kind ma'am.' she ordered all too politely.

Ten minutes later Jyona had brought most customers their desired drinks and put the two beers on the dwarves' table. She was about to return to the bar when the male called her back.

'Scuse me ma'am?'

'Yes? Is anything wrong with your order?'

The dwarf shook his head in denial. 'No, ma'am. We were just wondering if you know this area a bit. See, we've come from a long way and we might wanna learn more about them mountains before we make our way through them.'

'You've sure come a long way if you came here all the way from Booty Bay.' Jyona mentioned thoughtlessly.

The dwarf looked at her oddly and Jyona realised he must find it quite impolite that she had been eavesdropping on their conversation. His female companion let out a small chuckle.

'Well of course I want to help you.' Jyona said hastily, 'What would you want to know?'

The dwarf leaned back in his chair, 'We've heard 'bout them ogres livin' there but could you tell us about any other creatures we might find there?'

Jyona thought about this for a moment. 'I've heard about Yeti's that live in the mountains, but I'm not sure if those stories are true. Of course there are also various kinds of beasts, like bears, wolves and lions.' she hesitated, 'But none of us has ever been heading far to the north to explore the area thoroughly, so we don't really know that much about them.'

The dwarf nodded, 'That's okay. Are there any humans such as yourself living there, that you know about?'

'There are some humans living there indeed, but I would keep away from them if I were you. They're not the friendliest type of persons.' she answered.

'What would I have to imagine of that?'

'They're some sort of armed tribe, calling themselves the Syndicate. Very hostile to any but their own.'

The two customers sipped their beers thoughtfully.

'May I ask what your purpose in those mountains might be?' Jyona asked carefully.

'We're supposed to supply the camp just north of the mountains, all the way in the area they call the Western Plaguelands.' the female dwarf answered. 'What? It's not like it's some kind of secret or something.' she responded to the glare she received from the other one. The male muttered something and took a huge pull at his beer.

The female dwarf sighed contently as she emptied her own mug and slammed it down, making nearby customers flinch for the second time that afternoon. 'A'right, I s'pose we better get searching for a meal and a room. Could you tell us of any inn in town?'

'There's one just down the street, can't miss it.' Jyona informed her.

'Thanks very much, dal.' She stood up and put some coins on the table. Then she stared down to her companion. He gave her another glare, gulped back the rest of his beer, grabbed his stuff and stood to walk to the door. The female shrugged and smiled at Jyona and walked after him.

Jyona saw the both of them exit and then walk past her window, in the direction of the inn. She gasped loudly as she saw a huge, black panther follow in their trail, making the customers flinch for the third time in a row.

A/N: Well, that was just the introduction of this story. Much more will happen of course! Please review so that I can improve my writing.


	2. No way back now

Disclaimer: Blizzard owns Warcraft entirely, I don't.

Jyona was cleaning up the bar when she found it; a small silver amulet with the symbol of a rising sun engraved on it. She was quite sure she had seen the female dwarf wear it on a necklace so she put the amulet in her pocket, deciding to go out on a quick walk to the inn later. As she finished up her cleaning she thought about the two strange guests. She had met travellers in the pub before, but these seemed to have seen more of the world than any of the others. She wondered what Booty Bay was like, all the way south in the jungle. It surely had to be hot there, nothing like the cold climate in northern Hillsbrad. She pondered on about how good it would feel to leave this sombre place behind and to just travel away to happier places. Of course, she expected safety nowhere; the war was rapidly closing in on the humans from all sides. But at least she would feel alive again, leaving all her sorrows behind and just being free to go wherever she'd like.

When Jyona put back the mob in the closet behind the bar, she remembered her promised trip to return the amulet. So she went to get her heavy coat and short staff; respectively in defence of cold and creatures that might wander around. As she went out to defy both, an odd feeling came over her and she turned back to look around her pub one more time. Everything seemed fine so she shut the door firmly behind her.

The wind hit her hard in the face as she got out on the street. Shivering, she pulled her coat a bit closer around her and grabbed her staff tightly. The night sky looked very gloomy. Not a star could be seen amongst the rushing clouds. The only light in the street seemed to come from the fire lit houses, though many of them were dark and empty.

Jyona hurried down the long street; the earlier she'd be back home, the better. The broken windowpanes shrieked in the violent wind and the dark portals they surrounded seemed to stare after her. A couple of times Jyona looked over her shoulder, she had a prickling feeling in the back of her neck. Finally she reached a bit more inhabited part of the street. The lights were still burning in the small church on her left and there was a popular night-bar a couple of buildings further that was buzzing with noises as usual. An old, large inn occupied the right part of the street and Jyona sighed with relief.

She went for the doorway and reached for the handle but was suddenly knocked over by a hard blow. Something big flew right over her as she fell and she heard a soft growl as it landed. As she rolled over to see what had hit her she gasped loudly; a large gray wolf spun around and faced her, ready to attack. _'Wolves don't come this far to the south' _was all she could thing about as the beast made a leap for her. Jyona closed her eyes, not even considering to use her staff against the monster, and waited for the impact.

It never came, something soft stroke her side and she heard a whining howl come from the wolf as it was intercepted halfway its jump. At the same time she was grabbed by the arm and pulled inside the door.

'What, in the name of Bronzebeard, were ye doin' out there all alone if ye don'even know 'ow teh defend yerself?' a feminine voice sounded from behind.

All Jyona could do was stare at the fight outside between the wolf and something black. It was going wild against wild as claws and teeth were flung around.

'What's it doing out there all by itself? They usually come in packs don't they?' she wondered to herself.

'That wolf is not just a wild animal. It belongs to sembody. An'I hav'a feelin' I don't wanna know teh who.'

Finally the wolf was chased away and Jyona saw the large cat that had been fighting it disappear into the night.

'Don't worry 'bout the cat, he's mine, dusn't harm a fly if I don't tell'im to.' the dwarf said at her worried look. Jyona finally turned away to face her and handed her the amulet.

The dwarf stared at it incredulously, 'Ye really should be careful out there t'night, somethin's not right. Even this,' she held up the amulet, 'as grateful as I am that ye returned it, should not be werth riskin' yer life for.'

'I really _do _know how to defend myself, you know.' Jyona said a bit irritated, 'It's just that I froze of shock.'

'That's what I call not bein' able teh defend yerself…' the dwarf simply said. 'Now that wolfy out there has gone reportin' to his master that there are Alliance fighters in town.' She gave Jyona a serious look, 'But that won't stop them Horde from attackin' t'night.'

Jyona was shocked; the Horde were about to attack _their _village! That could not be! 'We have to warn the villagers!' she cried, about to put her words into action and run outside for the town bell. The dwarf blocked her way.

'It's too late dal, they've already come.'

'But I don't see anyone!'

'That ye don see them, dusn't mean the Horde are not here. They'll prevent you from warnin' anyone.'

'That just means we'll have teh prevent them from preventin' her from warnin' everyone.' another voice said.

The female dwarf sighed, 'Really Kurtis? An' just _how _are we s'posed teh do just that?'

The dwarf called Kurtis –it was the first time Jyona caught one of their names– shrugged, 'We fight.'

'We can't risk ourselves out there! We're on an important mission r'member?'

Kurtis snorted, 'Important! Keep tellin' that yerself Venise, meanwhile they'll find sumone else teh supply themselves just ever so shortly after we died.'

'Ye soundin' way too off-hand about us dyin' Kurtis,' the other dwarf sighed, 'but I guess there's no arguin' with ye. So what are we waitin' for?' She walked out of the door, not waiting to see if the others joined her or not.

The dwarf called Kurtis rolled his eyes, grabbed Jyona roughly by her wrist and pulled her along. Meanwhile, the other one had stopped right outside the door, peering into the dark alley next to the church.

'Seems like they too have discovered the location of that bell.'

'You mean they are _that _close?' Jyona gasped. The town bell was just at the opposite side of the street, next to the church, but now it seemed unreachable.

'Maybe Balthazar will be able teh distract them.' The female dwarf, Venise, said. She whistled sharply and the dark cat came immediately out of the darkness. 'Feel like playin' hide 'n seek with some Hordies, Balthazar?'

As the cat sneaked away again, the two dwarves slowly moved forwards. Suddenly, Kurtis seemed to freeze in the middle of a step.

'Uh oh, seemed to have missed that one. Silly me.' Venise muttered as the shot something bright into the air. Totally amiss about what was going on, Jyona saw a… a creature suddenly appeared in the orange light as the glowing thing landed on the ground. The thing seemed human and it was carrying weapons –daggers, by the looks of it– but it looked as if it had been lying somewhere, rotting away. The corpse-thing charged at Venise with a snarl. The dwarf quickly drew a small sword from somewhere, duck away from the things' wild slash. She spun around and swung her sword at her enemy. Jyona heard a soft thump as the rotten-looking head hit the ground.

'What…?'

'_That_, me dal, was an Undead rogue.' Venise said, gesturing to the creature. 'Luckily I can use my flare shot teh expose them from their stealth.'

On Jyona's other side, Kurtis started to move again. 'Damn them rogues and their sap.' he muttered as he looked around darkly, 'They're so cowardly always hidin' away 'n sneakin' up on true warriors to disable them.'

Venise huffed, 'Well the _sneaking _of my Balthazar does come quite in handy at the moment.'

_They hadn't seen or smelled him yet. He managed to prowl around them until he faced their backs. They we're staring intently in some other direction, giving him the change to sneak up on one particularly smelly one and dig his nails in it's upper leg. A muffled growl could be heard as the Orc turned around. It's eyes where searching the alley in vain._

_One of the other targets asked something to the Orc and quickly spun around at the answer. Balthazar knew it was about to show himself a bit. A quick flash of his black tail attracted their attention, right before he melted back into the darkness. He felt a strange kind of satisfaction as he watched them search for him in vain. It wasn't the kind of satisfaction that came with a full stomach; it came closer to… pleasure. _

_As soon as the enemy gave up it's search for him and return to their duty, Balthazar came forward again. This time a cow like creature, which looked extremely tasty to him, was the target. But just as he focussed for the attack, a thundering inferno behind his victim suddenly blinded his total sight._

'What the…'

The three of them turned around as the inn on the opposite of the street suddenly burst into flames.

'NO!' Jyona shrieked, shocked.

'Too late… We were too late.' Kurtis muttered dejectedly.

As he said those words, masses of creatures started to swarm the streets. They had not been able to warn the villagers before the attack came! Jyona sunk to the ground before the blazing inn. _´All those people!' _Then she was roughly pulled up and dragged into the alley next to the church. She only vaguely heard the clattering of the dwarven weapons as they fought their way in. The dark cat, Balthazar, was there too but she noticed him only after the fight had died down.

Jyona was dragged some further until she felt the cold stone wall of the church against her back.

´Stay here!' she barely registered Venise shouting in her face. Staring after the leaving dwarves she suddenly snapped awake.

'Where are you going!' she yelled after them, but they didn't seem to hear it. Only the cat was with her in the alley now. Shivering, Jyona looked at the Horde corpses a few meters away. Then, her gaze trailed further upwards to the alive Horde, rushing past the alley, leaving a path of destruction behind.

'_It will be only a matter of time before they notice me.' _Just as she thought that a cold hand, with long fingers, was clammed on her mouth.

'Welllll, what we have here? I found nice human, yess?' a drawling, lispy voice said in her ear.

Jyona's eyes desperately searched the alley for the dwarfs' black cat; for she knew that he would be able to help her. It was nowhere to be seen.

'Me think I wwanna eat nice human tonight, yess?' Sharp claws pushed into her chin as she was forced to look into two emotionless eyes. She was frozen, fixed by the creatures' small, red pupils. A terrible smell made her loose her breath until she had to back away to gasp for breath, breaking the terrible moment.

Appearing from thin air, Balthazar charged. Jyona sighed with relief at first, until she saw the cat was heavily bleeding. She didn't know what happened but she did know the poor animal wouldn't last very long against this enemy. Already, the evil creature had cast some kind of lightning towards Balthazar several times. The cat had evaded most of them but was obviously tiring out quickly.

'Stop!' Jyona shouted as the caster prepared another attack. She centred all of her energy and suddenly the caster was caught in a huge mass off ice. Jyona stared at it for a moment, normally she had only been able to freeze the targets feet but the severity of the situations must have caused her to push through more energy.

The cat gave her an intelligent look, as if he had seen through her all the time. Knowing, the Frost Nova wouldn't last long, Jyona quickly trotted out of the alley with the wounded cat in her trail.

Just as she turned around the corner, she bumped into Venise.

'Thought I told ye teh stay here!' the dwarf yelled over the noises of burning wood.

Kurtis walked past her, stopped dead, then turned back. 'Never mind,' he muttered, 'let's go sumwhere else.'

'Whereto?' Venise asked confused.

The other dwarf shrugged. They started to move past the church but where stopped by a calling voice. Jyona and the dwarves turned to see a woman in a white dress standing at the churches' doors, she gestured wildly for them to follow her. Hesitatingly, they went after her through the small opening between the doors, which were quickly closed behind them.

They soon noticed they were not the only late visitors of the church. Its' large hall was filled with scared and wounded people. Several priests were healing the ones worst wounded with a combination of potions and healing energy.

'Fortunately I happened to see you three pass out there. I was just in time to let you in before you left.' the woman who had let them in said.

Jyona bowed, 'Thank you for doing so, priestess Kristel.' she stated.

'Of course I did.' the priestess answered, smiling. Then her smile vanished, 'This is now the only safe place in this town, and I do not know how long it will stay safe.'

'It… it is terrible.' Jyona whispered, gesturing to the doors.

Priestess Kristel sighed, 'It is indeed. But as long as this stays a safe haven, you are free to stay here.' The three of them bowed their heads in gratefulness. 'But, if you will excuse me now, I have work to do.'

Kristel walked away towards a few badly wounded lying on the hard floor. Jyona walked after her. 'Can I help?'

'Yes you can, dear, thanks.' Kristel smiled at her, 'If you wouldn't mind bringing around some of the medical supplies that we need…?'

Jyona nodded and walked to a small door she had seen a priest appear out with arms full of bandages. When she came back, she saw the two dwarves had posted themselves next to the large wooden doors, which were still opened now and then to let refugees in. Venise had kneeled down next to Balthazar and was looking at his wounds with concern. Jyona brought her one of the healing potions she was carrying and then moved on past the several priests. She started as she saw a shadowy figure standing in the back of the church. First, she thought it was another Undead, until she noticed it didn't look like one after all.

The being was watching the scene in the church with an unreadable expression, its' eyes glowing in an unnatural way. It had long pointy ears, a bluish skin and hair in a dark green tint, which was pulled back in a short ponytail. Jyona realised this had to be one of those Night-elves, though she had never seen one in real life before. Suddenly the elf noticed Jyona's staring and slowly turned her head in her direction, expression not changing.

'Can I help you, human?' The voice sounded dreamy, yet sly.

Jyona quickly shook her head in denial, but continued to stare at the being. The staring contest seemed to last for a little while, until a small smile appeared on the blue lips, making the unnatural face suddenly appear much more friendly.

'I see.' the elf said lazily. She raised her hands, binding a dark headband around her head. 'We can't stay here much longer.' And, with those words, the Night-elf walked away.

A/N: Long one! So much had to happen in this chapter, it has become quite lengthy compared to my normal chapters. I hope there aren't any major mistakes in it as I don't have a beta or something, I just have word to check my language. Thanks for the review(s) :-P


	3. Flight

Disclaimer: Since I still don't own WorldofWarcraft, I still have to pay for my account…

With Jyona in her trail, the Night-elf strode to the front of the church. Priestess Kristel was standing near the door, discussing something with Kurtis. The armoured dwarf looked grim as he listened to her words.

'…how long do you think you can hold them if they come through?'

Kurtis hesitated, 'I think we can ma…' He was interrupted by a soft 'Excuse me'.

Annoyed, the warrior turned to the Night-elf. He eyed her for a moment, his expression got even darker. 'What do ye want, _rogue_?' he snarled.

The Night-elf ignored him, she turned towards Kristel. 'We have to leave now.'

Kristel looked confused, 'Why? This is the only safe haven in the area.'

'We are surrounded, the Horde is planning to use their fire-mages.' the elf stated.

'How do you know this?'

The elf sighed softly, 'I have overheard their strategy. Horde can be quite noisy while conversing. But we need not discuss this now, let us leave this place by the tunnel you mentioned.'

'But we are not even sure if the end of the tunnel is clear. I had planned to send out our hunter to check this first.' The priest now sounded desperate, she had started to fiddle with the sleeves of her long white dress.

'There is no time for that.'

'I can still go ahead,' Venise interrupted the conversation, 'but if Horde are at the end of the tunnel I will need help teh get rid of them.'

Kurtis stepped forwards, 'I can help with that.'

'Me too.' The Night-elf received annoyed glances from the dwarves at this but they didn't object.

Jyona hesitated, then she made her decision. 'I want to come too.'

Venise gaped at her. 'Why? Ye'r no fighter, what good would ye do? I mean, nothing personal, ye'd just be in the way.'

'Let her come Venise.' Kurtis said curtly. Venise opened her mouth a couple of times, then looked at him and nodded.

'I shall go along with you. I cannot fight very well but my healing powers are quite strong.' the priestess declared.

'Fine, can we leave now?' the Night-elf asked impatiently.

'Very well, follow me.' Kristel walked to a small door, stopping once to put another young priest in charge of the evacuation of the other people in the church. Behind the door was a square room with wooden chairs around a round massive-stone cylinder, which functioned as a table. Priestess Kristel pulled away one of the heavy curtains at the room's windows and switched the lever that was hidden under it. The shifting of stone against stone could be heard and the large table started to sink into the floor. From behind the other curtain Kristel fetched a ladder.

A few minutes later they all stood in a musty tunnel beneath the room. At the walls magical orbs were placed, dispensing a soft bluish glow as far as the eye could reach. Without a word, Kurtis took lead from here, closely followed by Kristel and Venise. Jyona gathered her courage before going after them on a short distance. She didn't see –or hear– the Night-elf, but knew she couldn't be far.

The walk through the dim lit tunnel seemed endless. No one spoke; the only sound that could be heard was a soft thudding of their feet on the dry, earthen floor. Not even the tripping of rodents could be heard, though Jyona swore she could sometimes see a movement in the shadow's that were cast by the dim lights. Just when the silence became unbearable to Jyona, the Night-elf spoke up.

'Something is amiss.'

Jyona stopped and turned to see a couple of glowing eyes hovering only a few centimetres from her face. Though the elf hadn't spoken loud, the three others had halted too. The elf seemed to be listening intently to something, her face looking even more unearthly in the blue light.

'I shall go back to see if those humans need help.'

'Why would ye do that?' Venise spoke up, the disgust in her voice obvious, 'Ye nigh'elves never care 'bout anything but yer own purpose.'

The elf gave her an odd look but didn't reply. She simply turned around and sprinted away at incredible speed. The others shrugged at one another, though Kristel looked very worried. The small group started to move again, processing among the long tunnel.

It was only a few minutes before the Night-elf caught up with them again. 'They are behind us. I tried to get past them but they didn't leave me any room for that.'

'But how can that be?! It would mean…' Kristels voice trailed away, she seemed devastated.

Venise put a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. 'I'm sorry dal, we can only 'ope them Horde showed sum mercy fer those innecent humans.'

'We really need to move on.' the Night-elf interrupted softly.

The others nodded in understanding, they started to hurry forth.

'Wait!' Venise suddenly panted, causing the elf to make an impatient little noise. The dwarf hunter pulled a small, but nasty looking trap from her backpack. As she put it down in the middle of the path, it added a blue glow to that the orbs were casting. 'Let's 'ope they are foolish enough teh hurry right inteh it, 't might slow them down a'bit.'

Finally they got to the end of the tunnel. A hatch was placed in the earthy ceiling, offering them their only way out with the Horde closing in on them. It was just when they reached it that they heard a surprised yelp back in the tunnel.

'Sumone's reeaally cold now.' Venise grinned. Then Kurtis opened the hatch and a shower of earth wiped the grin off her face. Balthazar made a huge leap and crawled up the edge, showering Venise with even more dirt, making her mutter something that sounded like 'traitor'.

One by one, they all climbed through the hatch. Jyona managed to fall to the ground a couple of times, her long skirt being in the way. Finally, Kurtis gave her a budge to the butt, making her blush violently. She then decided to give Kristel a hand as she knew the priestess would probably appreciate Kurtis' kind of help even less.

Jyona looked around; the tunnel seemed to have ended in a forest. To the north, much closer than she had ever seen them, the mountains were rising up above the dark trees. Only a small open spot was around the hatch. She also realised it was very cold; the wind was still hard and she had left her coat back in the church. Luckily she _had _thought to bring her staff along as she always felt more vulnerable without it.

Balthazar was growling softly, facing the tall trees as if they all were potential enemies. Venise looked a bit worried at this but didn't comment on it.

'Let's get movin'' Kurtis muttered, grabbing his axe and shield with an uncomfortable look around. As soon as he had taken one step, he went down with his face in the soft dirt. Jyona heard Kristel shriek and suddenly felt a warm glow around her body. The next moment, something feathery hit the 'air' right before her face.

'Ahh great, mor' hunters. They must 'ave tracked us all the way down the tunnel.' Kurtis groaned after he crawled up.

Jyona carefully stretched out her hand to the glowing wall that was surrounding her, to her surprise she could reach right through it. The big bird that had flew against it, was lying dazed on the ground. Before she had time to think about it any longer, three more beasts were emerging from the trees. Suddenly they were all defending themselves. For a second, Jyona just stood there, confused, then a giant Orc lunged at her from the trees. Jyona screamed and swung with her stick like a maniac. She heard a loud _thud _and saw the Orc go down. For a moment, she stared at her staff in surprise and saw Kristel do the same. The next thing she knew she was being pushed to the ground as several arrows flew over her head.

'Don't let your guard down.' a soft voice near her ear came.

Jyona looked up to see two glowing eyes stare back, then they were gone and she could crawl back up.

The fight seemed to last very long, while it probably took less than a few minutes. Kurtis could be seen while manically swinging his axe around while the Night-Elf was sneaking around, stabbing both Horde and animal in the back. Meanwhile, both arrows and bullets were flying across the battleground as hunters where shooting at every moving enemy. Several times, Jyona was too slow to duck away, only to be saved by the weird 'shield-thing' Kristel seemed to throw up.

'Seems lik' not seh many o' them 'orde teh me. G'ess they'nderestimated us.' Kurtis grimaced as he pulled out an arrow from his shoulder. Jyona hadn't even noticed the fight was over as she was too busy scrambling away from underneath a big, heavy Tauren. A sharp pain shot through her foot when she tried to stand. She remembered he had actually managed to crush her foot with one of his large hooves.

After the dust was settled again and some of them had received a healing potion, they all sat together. Everyone looked tired but Kristel looked the worst.

'All this fighting, all this killing…' she mumbled in shock, 'All those people!'

They all just sat there, staring either at their knees or into the darkness. Even the dwarves, usually very talkative were quiet. Then the Night-Elf stood up.

'I'm sorry,' she said, not sounding very compassionate, 'but we have to move on.'

The dwarves gave her an accusing glare but Jyona stood up, knowing the Night-Elf was right; this area wasn't save. In silent agreement, the two dwarves also stood and Venise took Kristel softly by the elbow. The whole group retreated from the battleground through the trees.

It was not long after they had started walking again, that Jyona felt the exhaustion kicking in. Soon, they were all more stumbling then walking and they agreed to be taking a quick break, hidden between the roots of a large tree. Before they knew it, not a single member of their little group was awake. Even the constantly alert cat, close his eyes for a 'quick' nap.

Jyona felt something poking against her arm. She opened her eyes to find a strange man staring at her from about two inches. She started to scream. Immediately a dagger was pushed against the man's throat.

His eyes widened, 'E-excuse me Madame! I was just checking to see if you where alright!' he exclaimed.

'Are you sure?' the holder of the dagger, the Night-Elf, hissed in his ear.

Now, the man looked confused, 'Sure? Of course I'm sure. How can I not be sure?'

All together the man looked pretty harmless. Though he was heavily armoured, he was 'armed' with a large spoon, which he had probably used to poke her with. Obviously, the Night-Elf noticed the same thing for the loosened her grip.

The man leaped to his feet with a 'Ha!' and pointed his spoon to her chest, only to look down at it bewildered.

'Forgot your mace again, master?' a heavy voice came.

All Jyona noticed were the purple chain-mail pants the man was wearing.

A/N: I know; a somewhat shorter chapter, bad me, bad me! And it also took me very long to write it, ain't getting any customers that way :-P Well I tried to end on a happy note, and for this I owe much to a borrowed character (the one in the purple pants).

Still I beg you to review, hehe.


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